What does Floren Varsity House have in common with the training facilities used by Real Madrid, the Boston Red Sox, the Los Angeles Lakers and U.S. Olympians in training? Put differently, in which way are Dartmouth, Harvard University and Princeton University superior to other Ivies? The answer is simple an AlterG Anti-Gravity treadmill.
The AlterG is the newest addition to the impressive resources already featured in Dartmouth's airy varsity weight room. To say it's different from other treadmills would be a serious understatement. The 1,000-lb. machine boasts a top speed of 18 miles per hour, faster than most regular treadmills, and also offers the chance to run in reverse at speeds of up to 10 miles per hour.
But what sets the AlterG apart from other treadmills and what makes it so appealing to hospitals and professional sports teams is the patented "differential air pressure" technology. The user is lifted up by air in the treadmill's pressure-controlled chamber, allowing athletes to work out while bearing as little as 20 percent of their body weights, Alter-G.com boasts.
Long-distance running means consistent impact on the body, and Phil Royer '13 has had trouble recovering since he seriously injured his ankle this fall. The acquisition of the AlterG treadmill in early January, however, completely transformed how the track and field veteran rehabilitated.
"Before, I was in the pool every day for two months," Royer said. "I was both bored out of my mind and frustrated that I wasn't getting as good of a workout as possible."
Aqua conditioning and elliptical workouts were until recently the only rehab options for the distance runners, according to men's track and field coach Barry Harwick. Now, however, Royer can run real workouts on the AlterG and closely imitate his natural running motions, even adding a slight incline for the most accurate simulation. His stride may be "very, very slightly" longer than normal because he is supporting just 70 to 90 percent of his normal weight but this is in fact helpful for building speed, he said.
A workout on the AlterG doesn't look much like anything that's going on in Alumni Gym. To begin his 25-minute tempo run Wednesday, Royer pulled a special pair of elastic shorts over the half-tights he was already wearing. He then stepped into the "cockpit," clicked a frame into place around him and zipped himself into the machine.
Sealed into place, Royer started his run at 70 percent of his normal weight, which the treadmill calibrates for each new athlete. Even at the 90 percent he would eventually hit, running feels profoundly different, Royer said.
Essentially, Harwick said, the base of the AlterG is a normal treadmill, albeit a high-quality one that can function at high speeds. This capability is actually useful in the case of the AlterG, according to Royer, because the athlete's reduced weight makes faster paces easier to maintain.
The treadmill is well-suited to cross-country runners because of their obvious susceptibility to impact-related injuries, but all Big Green teams have access to the machine.
Sarah Leonard '13, women's tennis co-captain, was the first Dartmouth athlete to test out the AlterG.
Nursing a bad knee back to health, Leonard said she couldn't run for extended periods of time. After her first run on the AlterG at 60 to 65 percent of her body weight, Leonard quickly began to reap the treadmill's benefits including going backward, a feature that the track teams haven't utilized yet, according to Harwick.
"Walking backward has been really therapeutic and helped a lot," Leonard said. "I've learned good technique to walk properly and make sure my knees are properly aligned."
This kind of technology comes at a cost $70,000 to $80,000, Harwick estimated. The newly created Dartmouth Peak Performance initiative, which has provided various services like therapeutic massages and chocolate milk to the Big Green's varsity teams, oversaw the purchase of the AlterG treadmill. Senior Associate Athletic Director for Peak Performance Drew Galbraith foreshadows a high level of return on their investment.
"The AlterG ... is part of our larger push with Dartmouth Peak Performance to ensure that our student-athletes are provided with the resources to help them reach their full potential," Galbraith said in an email to The Dartmouth.
For Leonard, the treadmill is "definitely" worth the price.
"I'm really thankful and happy that the athletic department has decided to invest in this either to treat injuries or prevent injuries as part of DP2," Leonard said.
Galbraith noted that the treadmill has uses for all endurance athletes, not just those recovering from injury. In that vein, Harwick said he plans to teach all of the men's long-distance runners, some of whom run over 90 miles a week during the cross-country season, to use the AlterG.
"That's a lot of running, even on soft surfaces," Harwick said. "Running on the AlterG will protect the legs while still exercising the cardiovascular system."
Thanks in part to the new treadmill, there's a light at the end of the tunnel for Royer's lengthy rehab process. The hope is that he'll be back at practice in a week or two, Harwick said, gradually running more and more of his mileage back on the roads at full gravity.
